WWE Extreme Rules PPV Predictions - Brock Lesnar vs John Cena

Brock Lesnar makes his long-awaited return to a WWE ring for tonight's WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view, headlined by his clash with WWE's poster boy John Cena. This will be the former UFC Heavyweight Champion's first match in the company since his WrestleMania 20 bout with Goldberg where he was booed out of the building for what the WWE fans perceived as turning his back on them. WWE have packed their pay-per-view with six more bouts, including CM Punk defending his WWE Title in a Chicago Street Fight against Chris Jericho with the hometown support in the Allstate Arena expected to provide a lightning atmosphere. Other matches include Randy Orton vs Kane in a Falls Count Anywhere Match and a World Title 2 out of 3 falls re-match between Daniel Bryan and Sheamus. Here are our WWE Extreme Rules preview and predictions, which airs tonight at 1am on Sky Box Office in the UK; Extreme Rules Match Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena WWE have promoted this match smartly, playing up Lesnar's UFC background and that he is here because he is "sick of this John Cena crap". This is precisely the way to get the outside the hardcore fanbase interested and there is a big curiosity over how much Brock Lesnar may dominate tonight's main event. How much selling will Lesnar really give Cena and will the fans buy it? Making this bout the Extreme Rules contest was clever. This will be more of a brawl than a wrestling match and we might expect some blood to be spilled in this one despite the PG mindset. There is of course no way that Lesnar will lose this match given his big one-year contract and how much money they want to make out of him but two straight big pay-per-view defeats for Cena could be damaging if Lesnar wins decisively. Prediction: Lesnar Chicago Street Fight C.M. Punk (c) vs Chris Jericho Expect the crowd to be wild for this one. We all remember the crowd reaction for CM Punk vs John Cena at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view season and we can expect something similar tonight. WWE would be smart to keep this one as a Street Fight and forget it being a contest over who is 'The Best in the World', the reason being that the feud has instead been built up as a personal feud. We've seen them have a great wrestling match at WrestleMania, now it is time to see them tear each other apart! This will be another brutal contest and with two innovators in the ring we can probably expect some out of this world and unique spots. If I were booking the match, I might even have had the contest go outside of the building and into Chicago, preferably a pub (which obviously would need to be housed by WWE hired extras and execs), to keep up the alcoholism storyline they have been playing up. Though the match would obviously have to finish in the ring. It is tough to see Punk losing his title to Jericho but then another defeat for Jericho leaves him with little where else to go after this. Still, I can't see WWE booking Punk to lose in his hometown. Prediction: CM Punk WWE World Heavyweight Title - 2 out of 3 Falls Sheamus (c) vs Daniel Bryan Hopefully they will get more time than they did at WrestleMania, that's for sure. This could be a classic match with two contrasting styles and Bryan should get the best match out of Sheamus, perhaps his best in his time with the company. Bryan is so over with the crowd right now that it is getting to the point where WWE may end up turning him and making Sheamus the heel champion, which could see this feud extended through the summer. We've heard that WWE has plans to enter Christian into this feud and we believe the plan was for Christian vs Sheamus for the summer B-PPVs with Christian trying to get revenge for his lengthy injury but we imagine Bryan vs Christian would be more interesting or some kind of triple threat. But WWE are desperate to keep Shemaus strong as they attempt to build a new star. If I were booking I would have Bryan playing it straight for at least 15-20 minutes but when he has been unable to get a pinfall he intentionally loses the first fall through disqualification with a chair shot but the chair shot leaves Sheamus so groggy that Bryan gets the pinball to tie it 1-1. When he goes for the second pinfall to win, Sheamus just manages to kick out. Bryan gets lose of close falls after that before Sheamus later hits his Brogue Kick out of nowhere and wins the match to retain his title. (This is something that JR got Triple H over well as the Cerebral Assassin back at WWE Judgement Day 2000 when he did the exact same thing in a 60 minute iron match where he took a DQ for a chair shot but won at least two falls on The Rock because of the impact of it). Prediction: Sheamus Falls Count Anywhere Match Randy Orton vs Kane Kane has completely been mishandled upon his return and after a pathetic feud with John Cena, he entered a Randy Orton feud that would be comical if it wasn't so lame. And boy oh boy let's hope we are not heading towards a Cowboy Bob Orton & Randy Orton vs Kane & Paul Bearer match at the next pay-per-view! This one will probably end up outside of the arena given the nature of this feud being so many backstage moments and given the stipulation. Orton will win, as he should have done at WrestleMania. This is the no brainer of the night. So much so that WWE may decided to flip the result again as a swerve, just like they did at WrestleMania. Prediction: Orton WWE Intercontinental Title Big Show (c) vs Cody Rhodes Another re-match from WrestleMania and the feud has been all about Rhodes trying to humiliate Show but getting his comeuppance in the ring though lately Show has been humiliating Rhodes. This leads us to expect that this encounter could be the comedy bout of the night. A last minute stipulation change means that the gimmick for the contest will be decided by the old "Spin the Wheel Make The Deal" conceit, which we hear will happen during the pre-show that airs on Youtube and Facebook. This will probably mean something comical will be the outcome, maybe a Chokeslam match between Rhodes and Show which obviously Rhodes would have no chance winning. I can imagine Rhodes having the upper hand at some points in the match but when he goes for the Chokeslam, he can't do it. Rhodes manages to block a few Show chokeslams with kicks to the gut but Show inevitably gets him. This could lead to another Show vs Rhodes match where Rhodes rightfully wins back his title. Prediction: Show WWE Woman's Title Nikki Bella vs Beth Phoenix Beth is of course the best in-ring female performer the company have ever had. The title should never have been taken away from her and it did feel like the only reason it was may have been to make some belief that she was beatable. WWE have been playing up the fact she is suffering from an injury going into the rematch which does make you wonder just where they might be heading here. We do know the Bella twins' contracts expire soon. If Nikki doesn't retain her title we can probably expect that they are leaving the company. If they lose, they are probably gone. Prediction: Beth Phoenix WWE U.S. Title Santino Marella (c) vs. The Miz This match will air as part of the pre-show and isn't officially part of the pay-per-view. The Miz of course has lost his place in the company and has tumbled down to lower mid-card status and isn't going anywhere right now. Having the US title on his shoulders isn't likely to do anything for him either. Prediction: Santino